I basically like everything...

I do not know where the notion of country's unpopularity comes from.

It probably comes from snobby, East Coast Yanks like myself who have nothing but abject disdain for rednecks.

and then you make them listen to the Gourds version of Gin and Juice.

(I used to hate hate hate girly vocal rnb as well as country, but these are surprisingly, turning out to be my favourite genres of the last year or so.)

I hate many records, including some that Tico loves.

But I should admit that there may be at least some kind of truth in what Tico says, and it is worth investigating as he implies.

i'm not sure how this takes account of the fact that, presumably, 'bad' records must actually exist.

i think this is related to luke's point on the 'relevance' thread about all data being interesting - perhaps sheer volume is forcing us to treat songs more and more as items of 'data,' and in that sense there's something to appreciate in every one?

"I like all kinds of music except punkabilly and microhouse."

Sometimes "except country" is modified to "except modern country." Same with R&B. Opera tends to get a fair amount of blanket dismissals, though I've never heard it dissed in the syntax we're talking about.

made me laugh

I basically don't care for any of it. Don't hate it per se, just doesn't do anything for me.

I don't know if you were making a serious point, but obviously by saying 'I hate rocknroll' the person means 'I hate all the rock'n'roll that I have heard. Granted there may be something out there classified as rocknroll which I would like, but I haven't come across it.'

on a different question someone raised: these people hate country because all they have heard is country radio, which doesnt count, i dont think. they have no knowledge of the country of the 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s or artists that retain the original sincerity of that music. the only variety they know of is the hokey modern version, which they have a damn good reason to despise. of course its frightening to hear how sincere modern country stars are about loving their tractors...

i have a theory that country attempted to reach a more mainstream audience somewhere in teh 70s and 80s, so it absorbed all the shitty arena rock, pop, etc...

here's a convoluted extended metaphor on the topic:
when i was younger it was a given for me and everyone i knew that brussel sprouts were sent from the devil to destroy a child's dinner time. i learned this mostly from nickelodeon and other outlets (im young, 16) so up until recently it was ingrained in me that i must avoid brussel sprouts at all costs. i tried them recently, theyre not bad.

same thing with country. the aforementioned phrase has been uttered so much (at least in my circle of acquaintances and apparently others') that it is a given that any thing labled "country" is automatically disgusting and vomit-inducing.

I'll second this and add one absolutely true law of human nature:

If somebody hates country, the one country artist that they do like will absolutely be either A) Johnny Cash (more likely if they're a male) or B) Patsy Cline (more likely if they're a girl)....

Country is great! Go team country!

but yes, youre generally right about johnny cash. i mentioned johnny cash around this one guy awhile back and he said "johnny cash fucking rocks." and then i asked him which songs he liked and he said "i dont know any names or anything, all i know is hes awesome." he said something similar about bob dylan once too but it was phrased so that that it was even more obvious that he just knew he was "supposed" to like them.

Compare Merle Haggard, who owns Johnny in everyway as a country performer/artist, I think he's a little too much with the twang for some....same with George Jones.

Tom this is really interesting, I have days where I feel like this, I guess if I'm in particularly good humour almost anything can sound fantastic. I do feel that sometimes I have to pay more attention because if I let stuff float by I might like everything. This may sound like I force myself not to like stuff but I think if you're in a happy mood you do need to switch off the visceral and analyse something to really end up disliking it.

I've often asked your question but I presumed I was the only one who found this!

is it natural to hate music?

there's lots of good modern country, a friend of mine made me a mix of what is called either "Texas Country" or "Frat Country", guys like Charlie Robeson, Bruce Robeson, Pat Green, and some others that I am forgetting...lots of it was great! I did go to see Pat Green though and he was terrible, an unholy mix of country and Hootie and the Blowfish/Sister Hazel boring rock.

m@tt, thats what im talking about. country has a tendency to adopt the worst part of rock and other genres. not in all cases of course.

And of course neo-traditionalists such as Randy Travis, Dwight Yoakam, Clint Black, some of Alan Jackson's stuff, and lots of other popular country artists have been working with more trad forms since the '80s in response to country's move toward rock and MOR.

I'm on the fence with Shania, I loved "No One Needs To Know". I always think of "Mutt Lange" as a genre in itself, with two artists: Shania and Def Leppard. They just use different window dressing and bells and whistles (heavy metal signifiers in Def Lep's case, country signifiers in Shania's)...I guess I like more trad country overall....but I do love Reeves and Billy Sherril productions and Charlie Rich, which are pretty lush and not hardcore c&w

Hahaha! I wonder who that was...

you're lucky, even if you're maybe knee-deep in music you probably don't need

the older i get, the more i have this "yeah, but that's an old (musical) trick that i've heard before" reaction, as thought the first was the best

i'm much more cynical about the music scene these days so i don't just like stuff because it's "the latest" -- in fact i think liking the latest music for that reason alone is naive.

"the latest" being interesting, that's something happening a lot more around here too (cf: the enormous database of already accumulated opinion on music that's old enough to be classic or dud, the interest in "good music" from whenever, that seemed a much more dominant discussion tactic here two years ago)

and most of the "new music" i get as far as hearing, for pop music it's still 90% garbage -- see, i don't think new production techniques making things sound crisper, deeper etc.., that's like schmollywood selling films on "wow" special effects all over again (and "special effects" films usually turn out to be unwatchably boring i find) -- i'm more into actual "content", however wrapped

so in this case "i like everything" = "i like everything i chose to listen to"

also i don't think liking everything = liking everything equally. so even though you may enjoy the act of engaging with all of the music you chose to listen to you'll probably make some further value judgement as part of that act.

James

Yay!

TRANSLATION: I LIKE OUTKAST + THE STARTING LINE. HAUGAUGAH COCKS

x-post

OTOH, most people have a pretty narrow perception of "everything". I was talking to some d00ds who were circle-jerking each other about being so open-minded because they like both Led Zeppelin and the new Outkast album. When they said they were into prog I tried to talk about King Crimson and got blank-faced stares in return.

"fucking cool music, mate"

My new response to people asking me about this (usually at a party) is to shrug. I meam, am I supposed to feel bad when people don't know who Neu! or the Boredoms are!

Also, I'd be interested in finding more bands kind of following in the footsteps of Vision Creation Newsun and Stereolab, but more Boredoms-ish and less Stereolabish.

(I kinda get the impression that most of Stereolab's fans are corny preppy liberal arts major indie fuqs while Boredoms' fanbase is made up of art students and drug users.)

Suprisingly, King Sunny Ade's favorite American singers are Don Williams and Jim Reeves.